About

Our campaign ends soon and despite the great start it looks as if we will not reach our goal. We suspect that crowdfunding has been a major obstacle for many.

Therefore we will collect the necessary number of pre-orders starting tomorrow via our own website.
You will find all information about this there from 30.12.2018.

See you!

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The Maiporter Z130 is the first lockable bicycle trailer that is ideal for daily use on your e-bike thanks to its outstanding quality and extensive equipment!

You can, of course, tow the Maiporter Z130 with a normal bike as well but it only shows all of its strengths as a permanent companion for your e-bike in town.

Watch the video to see why:

Although bike box trailers are super practical due to their lockable box, most people aren’t even aware that they actually exist. Why is this, what has prevented their success up to now?

This question has never left Michael Mai ever since he built his first bike box trailer back in 2010:

In order to find the answer, he rode with bike box trailers himself. In town. Without owning a car. Almost every single day since 2011. And he indeed found a lot of problems.

Over several years he worked on solutions for this, together with his team improved them from one prototype to the next and was satisfied only when everything worked truly flawlessly and long-term.

And here instead of the many problems you see only the solutions. In the shape of

Quality is our number one priority; we build the Maiporter for you in Osnabrück, Germany, with genuine craftsmanship, only using materials of the highest quality to ensure that you will still enjoy it after many years just as much as on the first day!

The most interesting thing we observed with regard to the most conventional bike box trailers was the fact that we could break open the locks of the box with our bare hands and that this didn’t even take longer than unlocking it with the key.

Given that the whole point of a bike box trailer is protecting the content of the box from theft, we were rather surprised at this. We have equipped the box of the Z130 with an extra-secure and comfortable locking system.

Bolt cutters are among the most dangerous breaking tools because they are fast and quiet. The Z130’s locking mechanism is located inside the box and thus out of reach for a bolt cutter.

And so that no thief can steal the locked box as a whole from the frame, the screw fittings are inside the box, too.

Most bike box trailers don’t offer a way of locking the frame to something; thus it is hard to achieve theft protection sufficient for a longer period.

The Z130 can easily be locked to its external frame tubes.

Standard for bikes, but unusual, up to now, for bike trailers: in order to deter thieves and to assign each Z130 unambiguously we will, at the stage of mass production, emboss each frame with its unique ID number.

The well-designed theft protection of the Maiporter Z130 makes life as difficult as possible for thieves.

The thin-walled boxes of most conventional bike box trailers mean that even a slightly eneven carriageway leads to loud and annoying road noises.

Thus we designed a spring mount for the box of the Z130 in order to minimise these noises.

Additionally, we have equipped it with Schwalbe balloon tyres which offer as a special feature their own, particularly good suspension.

On many bike trailers, parts shake and rattle, and often the drawbar and the wheels are affected by this, too. The Z130, on the other hand, comes across as of once piece, even after years of daily use, nothing will shake.

The Maiporter Z130 runs so quietly that it will attract looks solely for its unique design, even when running on cobbles.

Conventional bike box trailers show nothing but sheer metal inside the box so that your cargo moves about and scratches it. Even the zip of your coat or a buckle on your rucksack are enough to produce a loud, annoying rattle. In order to avoid this we line the walls of the Z130 on the inside with luxurious, dense needled felt.

Your heavy bike lock, your high-viz vest, rain gear or empty shopping bags: the elastic baggage net at the rear of your Z130 offers you a handy space for all those things you always want to have with you.

At the bottom of the box of the Maiporter there is a perfectly cut 1cm
strong, extra sturdy and elastic foam floor mat which softens the
impact on your goods and stabilises them. During a break you can even
use it as a short but surprisingly comfortable deck mat.

The box of the new Maiporter holds 130 litres. This is equivalent to 6 22-litre rucksacks and should be sufficient for way more than 90% of your transports in town.

Sometimes, however, at the end of your shopping trip you still need to carry a little more. Up until now, you then somehow had to tie down the lid of conventional box trailers, and the usual fasteners would then rattle extremely noisily during the subsequent trip.

You can fasten the lid of the Z130 in any position with the help of its clever elastic rope. Of course, its latches won’t then rattle even when open!

You can even carry goods on the lid of the Z130. We have attached the loops for fastening the goods not to the thin metal of the lid but to its sturdy walls.

Use the non-skid mat at the bottom of the box to prevent the goods from slipping; this also protects the lid from damage.

If you don’t feel like carrying goods on the lid or happen to need a car for some other reason you may want to get that at a low price from a car sharing company because…

…due to the great load capacity of the Maiporter Z130 you may well have sold your own car already? :)

The Z130 has two modern, high-quality rear lights made by Busch&Müller KG. They offer optimal visibility of the Z130 from the side, too, and in particular at crossroads where the cycle path is located between the car lanes.

One large reflector is already integrated into each of the rear lights; the light from the LEDs is directed in such a way that the light bands at the top and bottom and the integrated reflectors also emit light as well.

The innovative power supply of the Z130’s rear lights is provided externally from inside the box by a mobile power bank. This gives an extremely long-lasting supply of over 30 hours, meaning that you will have to charge it only very rarely.

The multi-bar charge display of the power bank will reliably remind you to make sure that you won’t forget to recharge.

The Z130 also has reflectors at the front and sides (on the tyres) as required by EU law, of course.

The innovative, high-end lights of the Maiporter Z130 ensure that you will safely get through city traffic even when visibility is low.

Lightweight aluminium boxes are highly suitable for bike box trailers. The surface, however, is extremely susceptible to scratching which would lead to a worn look within a short time.

That’s why we protect the visible sides of the Z130’s box with a professional varnish. This is significantly more scratch-resistant and if required can be polished, just like a car.

The opposite is true for the edges of the box which take a lot of impact. Here, a varnish would wear off over time. Thus we don’t apply the varnish there so that small damage of the raw aluminium is hardly visible.

The box of the Z130 is guaranteed to be splash-proof from all directions. We put the light yet sturdy seal for this around the entire underside of the lid.

The smooth front is super easy to wipe clean. This is important because a lot of dirt from the rear wheel of your bike will end up here. This dirt is also the reason why the Z130 is only available in a hardy grey metallic finish.

All exterior screws and fixtures of the Z130’s box and frame are, of course, stainless.

Due to the well thought-through surface design the Maiporter Z130 will still have a great appearance even after many years of use.

No part of the aluminium frame of the Z130 in particular should rattle or come loose, even after many years of daily use. In order to guarantee this we don’t use an interlock system to connect the individual parts but weld them together by hand in a time-consuming process.

This, in combination with its thick-wall frame tubes, makes the frame of the Z130 so extremely stable that during our tests not even collisions with metal posts were able to destroy it.

Likewise it’s part of the frame’s job to ensure that you can get through chicane barriers without the Z130 getting caught or damaged.

That the frame itself gets scratched under such strain is part of it and doesn’t matter much as it will hardly be visible on its bare aluminium tubes.

Even deep scratches as a result of a severe collision can easily be smoothened somewhat by sanding and will hardly mar the appearance of the Z130.

Bike trailers nowadays are often equipped with single-bearing wheels with a slide-in shaft. For the Z130 we use normal bike front wheels as these are much tougher, more smooth-running and more durable thanks to their double bearing.

In addition, you can exchange the wheels for different ones. Thus, if you prefer a different look or another technical specification this presents no problem! And if a wheel should break while you’re on tour, this feature can even save the remainder of your holiday.

Owing to its clever construction and its bearing bushes made of high-pressure resistant plastic, the attachment bracket ensures a permanently play-free mounting of the drawbar together with maximum toughness.

And to ensure that the Z130 doesn’t tilt too much to the front when connected to bikes with smaller wheels, a drawbar version for host bikes up to 24” is also available.

The aluminium frame of the Maiporter Z130 offers the best combination of durability, suitability for everyday use and sleek appearance!

With the box, too, we’ve already had the bad experiences on your behalf: lids that won’t close properly any more, rusty attachment parts and rain water in the allegedly waterproof box have made it more than evident to us that an excellent bike box trailer has to have an excellent box.

We are thus more than delighted to have Zarges GmbH Germany, probably
the best manufacturer of lightweight aluminium boxes, on board to manufacture the box of the Z130 in accordance with our specifications.

Zarges boxes offer an extremely good low weight to high stability ratio and have thus been first choice for professionals in emergency services, on expeditions, in industry and aeronautics for decades. In other words, anywhere where perfect function even under the most extreme conditions matters.

You can rely on the quality of the Maiporter Z130’s Zarges box even after many years!

Ingenious: If you have your Z130 with you, you simply pull out its kickstand and turn it into a table!

Here you can eat, play or work on your laptop wherever you happen to like it! And whatever you need for this you will easily carry in your Maiporter.

And on bike tours you’ll not just carry your things much more comfortably than in pannier bags but also enjoy your food in the most beautiful places at the Maiporter table!

Using your Maiporter Z130 as a table you make the world your home!

And if, for once, you want to leave your Maiporter Z130 at home you can store it upright in a space-saving way thanks to its feet. This, however, will very rarely be the case because:

• Manufacturer: Zarges GmbH, custom-built for Maiporter, made in Germany

• Material: aluminium

• Lockable

• Splash-proof against water from any direction (IP64)

• Vibration absorbing mounting on frame

• Detachable, theft-protected by virtue of the bottom being screwed together with the frame from the inside

• Grey-metallic varnish for lid and walls on the outside

• Bottom mat made of 1cm strong, high-quality foam

• Interior walls fitted with needled felt

• Underside of lid fitted with sealing foam

• Elastic luggage net at the rear

• Inclusive of elastic rope with two hooks to prevent the unlocked lid from swinging open

The Maiporter Z130 can be coupled and uncoupled super-fast thanks to the Weber hitch. But not by thieves as it can be locked.

Since various hitches are available for the Weber system, depending on your bike, no hitch is included with the Maiporter. Apart from the hitch itself, additional parts and/or adapters may be necessary, depending on the bike.

Maiporter highly recommend that the hitch is mounted by a qualified specialist bike workshop.

If you would rather have your Z130 with a simpler, non-lockable Burley hitch connector you can get this as an alternative. The price is identical but the hitch is included.

The Burley Classic Hitch is not compatible. Additional parts and/or adapters may be necessary, depending on the bike, for more information look at https://www.burley.com/hitch-guide/

Maiporter highly recommend that the hitch is mounted by a qualified specialist bike workshop.

Last-minute changes
- It appears on the photographs that the varnish on the box is partially uneven. At the mass production stage the varnish will be smooth.

- We will attach two small transparent or silver plastic parts at the rear under the edge of the box that will protect the edge of the Z130 from damage when putting it upright.

Zarges GmbH Weilheim, GermanyWe subjected the standard Zarges box, which forms the basis for the box of the Z130, to the toughest tests over four years, on longer journeys as well as in everyday use, before we invited Zarges GmbH in November 2016 to our workshop in order to fill them with enthusiasm for our idea of the world’s first truly sophisticated bike box trailer, suitable for everyday use.

Zarges GmbH, a large company with 1300 employees, didn’t laugh at us but understood the potential of our idea immediately and then invested a lot of time and trust in us for over a year in order to harmonise the special manufacture of the box for the Z130 with us.

Without this trust the Z130 would never have become the premium product it is today. And that’s why the Z in Z130 stands for Zarges! Thank you!!!

The M-Stream, no prototype of the Z130, but the first serial production Maiporter which we built and sold 2011-2016

Risks and challenges

Since for each of our supporters an unusually large amount of money is at stake you have every right to expect from us an unusually high degree of sense of responsibility and transparency! We live up to this:

• The Maiporter Z130 prototype is anything but makeshift, cobbled together for this campaign. It is the result of many years of development on our part, not just of the Z130 itself but equally of its production stages and the necessary delivery chains.
• Even though the Z130 impresses with many innovations: none of this is magic, and we have tested its technology over several prototypes. It will work reliably!
• We invested an immense amount of work in the calculation, too, and took advice from experts in this area.
• We like order, reliability and thoroughness! This is neither cool nor sexy but definitely the most important skill for establishing a successful enterprise.
• Decision processes can become quite energy- and time-consuming if several strong characters have to agree each time. This is why control of Maiporter is and remains solely in the hands of its founder Michael Mai who, however, always remains open to alternative views and will of course take advice from experts in important matters.
• Your intense involvement in the production process is an indispensable part of this story! We will bring you regular updates under all circumstances, even if and indeed in particular if, in spite of all the many years of meticulous preparation problems or delays in production should emerge!

We have further developed and tested the Maiporter Z130 for so long until we could be sure that it would be a completely positive experience for you.

For our experience shows that people will keep coming up to you as one of the first in your city with a Maiporter saying what a great bike trailer this is and asking where you could get it.

And it’s so simple: only if by then we have managed to make you so happy with your Maiporter Z130 that you can give one of our business cards (included) to these people with bright eyes, only then can our dream become reality: for Maiporter to play a major role in many, many people in cities around the globe switching from their car to a combination of e-bike and Maiporter!

Note for backers within the EU: the support amount attracts 19% VAT in addition.

Note for backers outside the EU: depending on country of destination import duties, taxes and fees may be incurred which are not included in the support amount mentioned here. Any queries should be addressed to the relevant customs office.

For countries outside the EU we cannot guarantee that operating the Maiporter Z130 on public roads is legal. Questions regarding this should be addressed to the local police authority in the first place.

Note for backers within the EU: the support amount attracts 19% VAT in addition.

Note for backers outside the EU: depending on country of destination import duties, taxes and fees may be incurred which are not included in the support amount mentioned here. Any queries should be addressed to the relevant customs office.

For countries outside the EU we cannot guarantee that operating the Maiporter Z130 on public roads is legal. Questions regarding this should be addressed to the local police authority in the first place.

Note for backers within the EU: the support amount attracts 19% VAT in addition.

Note for backers outside the EU: depending on country of destination import duties, taxes and fees may be incurred which are not included in the support amount mentioned here. Any queries should be addressed to the relevant customs office.

For countries outside the EU we cannot guarantee that operating the Maiporter Z130 on public roads is legal. Questions regarding this should be addressed to the local police authority in the first place.

Note for backers within the EU: the support amount attracts 19% VAT in addition.

Note for backers outside the EU: depending on country of destination import duties, taxes and fees may be incurred which are not included in the support amount mentioned here. Any queries should be addressed to the relevant customs office.

For countries outside the EU we cannot guarantee that operating the Maiporter Z130 on public roads is legal. Questions regarding this should be addressed to the local police authority in the first place.